London Irish's Armitage back for Le Crunch

Delon Armitage is ready to replace Tom Homer, who is still laid low by a virus

Delon Armitage will return from suspension for London Irish’s do-or-die Heineken Cup game against Racing Metro 92.

Exiles’ hopes of qualifying from Pool 2 are hanging by a thread following their narrow defeats to Edinburgh and Cardiff Blues.

But the return of their England full-back for Saturday’s clash in Paris is a massive boost.

Armitage has been sidelined for the last five weeks after being banned for a dangerous tackle on wing Tom Biggs and kneeing lock Dave Attwood in Irish’s 13-12 defeat by Bath in October.

It is the fourth time he has been suspended this year.

Exiles head coach Toby Booth said: “Delon has been frustrated about not playing and he is looking to make up for what happened. Whether we like it or not, he put himself in that position. But he is looking to make amends and kick on, which is good.”

Armitage’s recall to the squad could hardly be more timely as Tom Homer, who has been deputising at full-back, is still laid low by illness.

Homer climbed off his sickbed to play in last Sunday’s 15-11 defeat by defending Aviva Premiership champions Saracens.

But the 21-year-old felt so weary that Exiles were forced to withdraw him at half-time.

Booth said: “Tom is still not 100 per cent. He is much better, but whether he travels will depend on how quickly he recovers. He wanted to give it a go last weekend, but that did put him back a little. The virus left him with no energy, a sore throat and he’d had no sleep. We just need to look after Tom Homer a bit.”

The losers of Saturday’s match can forget all about Europe for the rest of the season. And Booth warned that Exiles will need to be at their most physical against super-rich Racing Metro 92, who are currently seventh in France’s Top 14.

He said: “They are big with lots of skills. We need to make sure we are up to the physical side of things because if not we are going to struggle.

“Given the chance they would offload all day.

“So we need to play the way we want to and try to impose ourselves on them rather than sit and wait for the juggernaut to ride over us.”